‘I struggle, too’: Darline Graham breaks from Lindsey’s Senate legacy

WASHINGTON, DC: Senator Darline Graham is drawing on her own financial and family pressures to define a Senate identity centered on South Carolina families rather than her late brother Lindsey’s foreign policy focus.

Lindsey Graham spent decades as a leading foreign policy hawk, while his sister said her priorities would be closer to home.

Graham made the case Monday, August 10, on ‘Fox & Friends’ as she campaigned ahead of Tuesday’s special election.

Darline Graham says her focus would be closer to home

“I think Lindsey was an amazing senator,” Darline Graham said, while distinguishing her priorities from his. 

“His interest was foreign relations and national security, as we know. And while national security is really important, I’m a little different...,” she added.

She said her own focus would be the financial pressures facing families across South Carolina, tying her campaign message to concerns she said voters have repeatedly raised on the trail.

Graham stressed that national security would still matter to her, but said her political focus would be different from her brother’s as she seeks voters’ support for a full Senate term.

“I want to focus on the struggles of the South Carolina families because, like them, I feel those same struggles,” she said.

Graham pointed to gas, groceries and health care as issues voters have brought up while she campaigns for the chance to keep her brother’s Senate seat long-term.

She cited her two daughters’ serious health issues and her own shopping habits as examples of how affordability pressures have affected her family.

“I struggle, too... when I go shopping, I’m a bargain shopper,” Graham said.

Affordability is central to her campaign pitch

Graham offered a specific picture of how she handles rising household costs, saying she waits for discounts when shopping for food.

“If the steak’s not on sale, I don’t buy it that week,” she said. “I look for the buy one, get one free sale.”

She connected those everyday choices to a broader economic message, arguing that South Carolina families need lower prices.

“I think, like most South Carolinians, I live the struggles here, too, and we have to get the economy booming and cut government spending in order to get the prices down,” Graham said.

Darline Graham is among 10 Republicans seeking voters’ support in Tuesday’s election, which could determine who holds the seat long-term.

Graham balances grief and Senate campaign

Her campaign comes after her brother’s sudden death in July, followed by her appointment to his Senate seat and the effort to win it permanently.

She acknowledged the strain of grieving Lindsey while learning her new role in the Senate and campaigning on a demanding schedule.

“Over the past three weeks, I’ve buried my precious brother. I’ve learned the new role in the United States Senate. I’m on this brutal campaign trail with a brutal schedule,” she said.

“And I’m still standing.”